Planetary Nebula List

Here is a catalog of Planetary Nebulae I have imaged in Slooh (I have listed ALL of the PNs in the NGC and the IC, even if I haven't gotten to them yet). I have it on a spreadsheet - if you need it, email me. You can freely edit it for your own use. The spreadsheet has some additional info.

Click the links to go to the image of the PN.

NGC 40 Bow Tie
NGC 246 Cetus Bubble
NGC 650-1 Little Dumbbell
NGC 1360 Robin's Egg
NGC 1501 Camel's Eye
NGC 1514 Blue Puff
NGC 1535 Cleopatra's Eye
NGC 2022
NGC 2242
NGC 2346
NGC 2371 Gemini Nebula
NGC 2372 Part of the Gemini Nebula - once thought to be two distinct objects
NGC 2392 Eskimo nebula
NGC 2438 A planetary within the M 46
NGC 2440
NGC 2452
NGC 2610
NGC 2792
NGC 2867
NGC 2899
NGC 3132 Eight-burst
NGC 3195
NGC 3211
NGC 3242 Ghost of Jupiter
NGC 3587 Owl nebula
NGC 3699
NGC 3918 Blue planetary
NGC 4071
NGC 4361 Galactic
NGC 5189
NGC 5307
NGC 5315
NGC 5408
NGC 5873
NGC 5882
NGC 5979
NGC 6026
NGC 6058
NGC 6072
NGC 6153
NGC 6164 NGC 6164 and 6165 are part of the bipolar planetary nebula
NGC 6165
NGC 6210
NGC 6302 Bug nebula
NGC 6309 Box nebula
NGC 6326
NGC 6337 Cheerio
NGC 6369
NGC 6439
NGC 6445 Beetle, also called the Little Gem, the Crescent, the Box as well as the Beetle
NGC 6537
NGC 6543 Cat's Eye
NGC 6563
NGC 6565
NGC 6567
NGC 6572
NGC 6578
NGC 6620
NGC 6629
NGC 6644
NGC 6720 Ring nebula in Lyra
NGC 6741
NGC 6742
NGC 6751
NGC 6765
NGC 6772
NGC 6778
NGC 6781 Redeye
NGC 6790
NGC 6803
NGC 6804
NGC 6807
NGC 6818 Little Gem
NGC 6826 Blinking planetary
NGC 6833
NGC 6842
NGC 6852
NGC 6853 Dumbbell nebula
NGC 6857
NGC 6879
NGC 6881
NGC 6884
NGC 6886
NGC 6888 Crescent
NGC 6891
NGC 6894
NGC 6905
NGC 7008
NGC 7009 Saturn nebula
NGC 7026 Cheeseburger
NGC 7027
NGC 7048 Ornament
NGC 7094
NGC 7139
NGC 7293 Helix nebula
NGC 7354
NGC 7662 Blue Snowball

IC 289
IC 351
IC 418
IC 972
IC 1295
IC 1297
IC 1454
IC 1747
IC 2003
IC 2120
IC 2149
IC 2165
IC 2448
IC 2501
IC 2553
IC 2621
IC 3568
IC 4191
IC 4274
IC 4334
IC 4406
IC 4543
IC 4593
IC 4634
IC 4637
IC 4642
IC 4663
IC 4673
IC 4699
IC 4723
IC 4732
IC 4776
IC 4846
IC 4997
IC 5117
IC 5148
IC 5217

PN G000.1-05.6 Photographed area, but no visual sighting was possible.
PN G008.4-03.6 Photographed area, but no visual sighting was possible.
PN G009.6+10.5 Abell 41
PN G009.8-07.5 Planetary Nebula in M22 field
PN G010.8+18.0 Twin Jet Nebula. Butterfly Nebula.
PN G013.8-07.9
PN G025.3-043.6
PN G035.7-05.0
PN G035.9-01.1 Described in Simbad as a "Possible PN" (Click here for nice wide field view)
PN G038.1-25.4 Abell 70
PN G044.1+05.8
PN G045.4-02.7 A very young PN, a proto PN. It emits OH, which is rare and perhaps unique among PNs.
PN G046.8+03.8
PN G051.4+09.6
PN G064.7+05.5 Campbell's Star, BD+30 3639
PN G069.2+03.8
PN G089.8-00.6 In the photo, the PN is a wisp at 2:00
PN G084.0+09.5
PN G086.5-08.8
PN G114.0-4.6 Abell 82
PN G154.8+31.1
PN G158.8+37.1 Abell 28
PN G194.2-02.5
PN G205.1+14.2 Abell 21
PN G217.4+02.0
PN G221.7+05.3
PN G226.7+05.6
PN G255.7+03.3
PN G303.4+41.4 Abell 35
PN G318.4+41.4 Abell 36
PN G335.5+12.4


IRAS 18059-3211 Gomez's hamburger. Gomez's nebula. Possible PN.
IRAS 09371+1212 Frosty Leo Nebula, referred to in Sinbad as a "Post AGB Star"

I took a look at Comet Holmes last night. It is a comet that has fallen off my radar, and I'm not the only one. Most astronomers have moved onto other things. For a while, this comet flared up unexpectedly and was amazingly bright. Tonight I thought I might see a tiny dot, and really expected to have to take several images so that I could tell which dot was moving. However, I only needed one image - Comet Holmes still has a distinct tail. We are looking straight into it, rather than seeing the classic profile, so the comet appears as a round haze.

It is not the bright object it was a couple of months ago, but it is still an interesting object.

Lunar Eclipse

Tonight's lunar eclipse may have been the prettiest I've ever seen - and I've seen quite a few. The moon turned a distinct red at totality, an element that is often expected but frequently absent. The star at the left of the moon is Saturn.

Here in Georgia, the skies where partly cloudy, adding an interesting element to the eclipse as the moon hid and reappeared among the clouds. At totality it was completely clear.

Comet Tuttle Appears To Pass By Galaxy M33

Comet Tuttle continues to brighten and is replacing Comet Holmes as an object of interest for many comet observers.

Last night was spectacular, with the comet appearing to pass by the Galaxy M33. The skies here in the Atlanta area were cloudy until after the main part of the comet's passing by the galaxy.

The photo above was taken at 1832 UTC. The one below was taken at 2145 UTC.

This photo was taken at 2242 UTC.

The one below was taken at 0102 UTC, and the comet is barely in the photo.

Fortunately, I had reserved some time with the robotic telescope on the Canary Islands, http://www.slooh.com/. I took several images, and put them together in this animation that I made this morning: http://www.myslooh.com/data/members/1627/1199114448.gif

Observing Planets

MERCURY

Mercury is always so low on the horizon, that it is difficult for me to make any worthwhile observations. The last time I observed Mercury it was moving across the face of the sun, which is called a Transit. Mercury is near the bottom of the image - the other dark, irregular object, is a sunspot.

VENUS
I've seen one transit of Venus (June 8, 2004) , and hope to see one more in my lifetime in 2012. If you miss that one, you have to wait until 2117 for the next one.

Although the transit of Venus is rare, seeing Venus is easy. It is often the brightest star-like object in the morning or evening skies. Through the telescope, it appears, as does Mercury, as a moon-like phase.

Sometimes, Venus is just a downright disappointing blob.

At other times, it is a spectacular phase.

I've made an animated GIF from 18 images I've been taking during 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 of the planet Venus. You can tell how the distance between Venus and the Earth increases and diminishes over time, and how the planet Venus, being an Inner Planet (between us and the Sun), has phases like the moon.

The images were taken through the telescope at http://www.slooh.com/.

To see the animation, click http://www.myslooh.com/data/members/1627/1198986501.gif.

MARS

Mars is often a very disappointing object for the inexperienced astronomer - and when it is a great distance away, it can be disappointing to anyone.

However, as Mars moves to "opposition," meaning it is opposite from the sun, which actually simply means it is pretty close to us, we can make out some features of Mars.

JUPITER

Jupiter is always fun to watch. The four brightest moons, called the Galilean Moons because Galileo discovered them, move quickly around the planet. Their movement is easy to discern in hours rather than days. There 11 moons known to orbit Jupiter when I was a child. We now know of 63 - well, at least that is what the figure was last week.

The Red Spot, seen peaking over on the left side, is a good target to look for among the Jovian clouds.

Of course, nothing beats seeing the planet's atmosphere scarred from having been hit by a comet.

SATURN

Saturn has a similar cloud structure, but it is the rings that capture our attention.

Twice every 29.2 years, the rings of Saturn appear edge on. In 2002, the rings were as open as they get in the current cycle. I missed it by a couple of years, making my first photo in 2004.

They will be edge on in 2009, and as you can see the rings are beginning to appear smaller than in 2004.

URANUS

Uranus appears featureless through small telescopes. The challenge is to try to identify the moons.

Between these two images of Uranus, I imaged the 5 moons of Uranus known to exist when I began to become interested in astronomy as a child. We now know of 27 moons orbiting Uranus.

NEPTUNE

The most interesting thing about observing Neptune, besides watching it move against the background stars from night to night, is to observe its moon, Triton. When I became interested in astronomy as a child, there were only 2 known moons of Neptune. There are now 13 known moons. Triton is the largest and was discovered just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune. You can see why - the moon is bright even at this 200x magnification.

PLUTO

Pluto offers nothing of interest to even the largest earth-bound telescopes. It is not difficult to see, however. The challenge is to know what you are looking at. Pluto just appears as a dim star. The best thing to do is to image the planet over several nights and to determine which star-like object is changing position in relation to the other stars.

Comet Holmes, Christmas Day

Comet Holmes continues to amaze me. It is HUGE. I cannot see it with any sort of magnification - but can only view it in a low magnification, such as through a view finder or binoculars.

The image below was made with a robotic telescope in the Canary Islands, using one of their four telescopes: a Televue 85 APO refractor with a magnification of 50x.

When using a higher powered telescope - Slooh's 14 inch SCT with a magnification of 470x. Below is such an image, and all you see is the small nucleus. As you see, the coma has so disipated that it can't be seen at higher powers.

Solar Activity, Comet Holmes, and A Gift For Kenya

The sun is finally getting interesting, even though we are in the low point of a solar cycle.

For months we've seen little activity on the solar surface, sometimes going weeks without a single sunspot. There is one group, at almost dead center. There are 44 spots by my count - a number of which are simple pores. I put the classification at "Eai." The Wolfe number is 54.

Last night I took another look at Comet Holmes. In light polluted skies, it is barely disernable with the naked eye. It is clear in the binoculars. It is difficult through even the lowest powers of my telescopes. The comet continues to enlarge, and this means its surface brightness is decreasing. It is the strangest comet I've ever observed!

In addition to using binoculars, a 10 inch reflector and a 3.5 Questar, I used the telescope that Artie (a colleague from Slooh) donated for the Kenya trip.

Thanks for this great donation, Artie! The kids in Kenya will love it. I viewed M42, and the image was very clear and sharp. Mars shows up fairly well, but I think it is always a disappointment in a small telescope. I took a peak at several open clusters and a couple of galaxies.